THE Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition calls on the government to immediately respond to and address concerns raised by healthcare workers who went on strike this week demanding better working conditions and investment into the health sector.
The cost of living has been increasing over the past months as the government continues to fail to arrest the rising inflation and decline in the value of the local currency, which has left healthcare workers and other civil servants earning an equivalent of as little as US$50.
This is a giant reversal of the gains made by the country under the International Labour Organisation decent work country programme for Zimbabwe from 2012 to 2015.
The programme set out to ensure social justice in the world of work for all Zimbabweans, with its priorities being to promote productive employment and decent jobs, to improve the application and implementation of International Labour Standards, and to increase coverage of social protection as well as to guarantee a secure form of employment and safe working conditions.
We, therefore, call on Health and Child Care minister Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Vice-President of the country, to cease to be an absentee minister and come out to attend to the crisis in the health sector which, if left unabated, can have consequences on the lives of Zimbabweans who depend on nurses and doctors for their well-being.
We also call for a relook at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s deployment of an individual with another busy Vice-Presidency role to a ministry which needs hands-on approach and day-to-day attention.
We understand that the crisis in the health sector goes beyond the remuneration of healthcare workers._Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Access to electricity critical for Zim
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LACK of universal electricity access remains a hindrance to Zimbabwe achieving its full economic potential which stymies growth in the various sectors.
Energy access is crucial for economic growth and beyond the attainment of health and education outcomes.
It reduces the cost of doing business and unlocks economic potential through job creation.
This is what Zimbabwe needs.
The consequences of insufficient energy access manifest in hundreds of thousands of deaths annually due to the use of dirty fuel, especially wood-burning stoves for cooking.
Insufficient energy access also handicaps the operations of hospitals and emergency services, compromises educational attainment, and drives up the cost of doing business.
Energy access for all is, therefore, one of the key drivers of inclusive growth as it creates opportunities for women, youths, children both in urban and rural areas.
Zimbabwe has for decades been pursuing what could be an elusive universal electricity access dream, but this does not mean that it cannot be done._Mukunda Chitova
Zim, Turkey intensify bilateral relations
THE Embassy of Zimbabwe to Turkey strongly rebuts the misinformation and disinformation a NewsDay article dated June 23, 2022 titled Dozens trafficked Zimbabweans stuck in Turkey. The article which comes on the heels of the recent celebratory statement by the acting Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister Dr OZ Muchinguri marking 40 years on the establishment of diplomatic relations between Zimbabwe and Turkey can only be described as a malicious attempt to downplay the accelerated strengthening of bilateral relations between the two countries. For the record, the Embassy of the Republic in Ankara, Turkey was established in October 2019, eight years after the Embassy of Turkey had opened in Harare. Since its opening, the embassy has never received any report of a Zimbabwean resident in Turkey or in transit who has been ill-treated by the authorities in Turkey or “lives like a modern slave in Turkey”. To the contrary, Zimbabweans working in Turkey are grateful for the friendly relationships which they have cultivated with the local people and authorities. The embassy has also witnessed marriages and unions between Zimbabweans and Turkish people which is a clear indication of acceptance to both sides. The current Zimbabwe population in Turkey is approximately 250 and continues to rise. Undoubtedly, Zimbabwe and Turkey enjoy excellent bilateral relations which has witnessed exchange of high-level visits (both government and private sector players) between Turkey and Zimbabwe resulting in concomitant increase in the volumes of trade increasing from US$19 million in 2019 to US$24 million in the third quarter of 2021. There is glaring energy and enthusiasm by both government and business people in both countries to widen and deepen mutually beneficial economic cooperation. There is no doubt that the virulent and hyperbolic falsification of the correct facts on our brotherly relations with Turkey is intentionally deceptive and inaccurate and could have been better served by the author verifying with this Embassy before publication. The article’s intended desire to detract our diplomatic efforts to engage and re-engage as directed by President ED Mnangagwa will fall out of relevancy as we continue to put the nation’s interests and that of our diaspora community first. Alfred Mutiwazuka Ambassador of the Republic of Zimbabwe to the Republic of Turkey
